Book picks similar to
The Promise by Ida Linehan Young


canadian-books
canadian-fiction
newfoundland
soonish

The O'Briens


Peter Behrens - 2008
    Joe and his siblings escape the poverty and violence of the Pontiac, but as Joe travels the continent, building an empire and a bright young family with his wife, Iseult, he is never quite able to leave his past behind.Told from the perspectives of Joe, Iseult, and their children and spanning the construction of the Canadian railroad as well as both world wars, this novel mirrors the scope and sweep of what Wilfrid Laurier calls "Canada's Century." Tragic, romantic, and as vivid as the novel that preceded it, The O'Brien's is an epic of great heart, imagination, and narrative force.

Random Passage


Bernice Morgan - 1992
    To seventeen-year-old Lavinia, uprooted from everything familiar, it seems a fate worse than the one they left behind. Driven by loneliness she begins a journal. Random Passage satisfies the craving for those details that headstones and history books can never give: the real story of our Newfoundland ancestors, of how time and chance brought them to the forbidding shores of a new found land. It is a saga of families and of individuals; of acquisitive Mary Bundle; of charming Ned Andrews, whose thievery has turned his family into exiles; of mad Ida; of Thomas Hutchings, who might be an aristocrat, a holy man, or a murderer; and of Lavinia - who wrote down the truth and lies about them all. Random Passage has been adapted into a CBC miniseries and is now a national bestseller.

Dance, Gladys, Dance


Cassie Stocks - 2012
    Behind her is a string of failed relationships and half-forgotten ambitions of being a painter; in front of her lies the dreary task of finding a real job and figuring out what “normal” people do with their lives. Then, a classified ad in the local paper introduces Frieda to Gladys, an elderly woman who long ago gave up on her dreams of being a dancer.The catch? Gladys is a ghost.In Dance, Gladys, Dance, Cassie Stocks tells the uplifting story of a woman whose uncanny connection with a kindred spirit causes her to see her life in a new way—as anything but ordinary.

Downhill Chance


Donna Morrissey - 2002
    Her chronicle of life in a remote Newfoundland outport was acclaimed by critics and embraced by readers worldwide. Downhill Chance is a captivating successor to Morrissey’s first novel. Set in a pair of isolated fishing communities in Newfoundland during and after the Second World War, this is the story of two families joined by friendship but torn apart by fear and sorrows. Prude Osmond reads her tea leaves and predicts dark days ahead. Meanwhile, an hour’s boat ride away, Job Gale leaves his wife and two young daughters behind to fight in the war, a cause neither they nor their neighbors understand. The war and the dark secrets it holds cascade over the Gale family, afflicting the sensitive yet resourceful Clair, an unforgettable heroine. Forced to restart her life in another place, she must forsake the family she loves and her community. Morrissey blends drama, gritty realism, and a flair for the comic in this unique novel. At its core is the unravelling of secrets — and the redemption that truth ultimately brings.

Cream & Armani: No Better Love


Charmanie Saquea - 2016
    After the death of his father, Tank, Cream has to step up and fill some big shoes as the head of one of America's most notorious cartels known as the Cocaine Mafia. This sudden change leaves a lot of people unhappy, especially those that had been with Tank since day one and felt as if they should have been next to take the throne. Not only is Cream responsible for making sure his father's legacy lives on but he's also responsible for his for younger siblings. Taking over where his father left off reveals some unsuspecting secrets and truths that will rock Cream's world. Dogs will be dogs and snakes will be snakes but it's always those the closest to you that you have to watch out for. While following the cookie crumbs left behind by Tank, Cream lands on the doorstep of the woman who instantly captures his attention.Armani, is just getting adjusted to being a single mom while balancing life and working full-time. After losing her son’s dad she didn’t expect or want to find love. She had all the love she needed in the form of her son. However, the universe had other plans and allowed her paths to cross with Cream's. What started as an innocent friendship quickly escalated, which would have been okay if Cream didn’t also have Deja, his fiancée, in the picture…

Finessing The Plug


Treasure Malian - 2015
    The one that sets a goal and does everything in her power to accomplish it? That’s Journee. Journee is focused on graduating college and attending Medical school. But, a level headed girl always has a turn-up girl as a best friend, and that's Zoie. Journee's life was planned and moving along accordingly until she and Zoie met Jonas and Lex. Jonas, who is coming into his own, as the plug, after the death of his father, is focused on the money. He wasn’t looking for a relationship. However, when Journee walked into his life doing all of the right things, one night in Vegas quickly turned into a whirlwind love affair. What starts as two people passing time, turns into true feelings and love. Journee starts falling for Jonas and vice versa. Jonas has been burnt before by "love" so he tries to be cautious but falls hard for Journee. Will he end up getting burnt by love again? Stephan is Journee's older brother, known as the fuck-up of the family. With a get it how you live mentality Stephan sets out to do what is natural for him. However, this stick up is different; it involves his sister. Will his plan ultimately get both him and his sister killed? Love and loyalty is tested when outside sources begin to work against the young couple. While Finessing the plug, Journee falls deep in love with Jonas, and he ends up finessing her heart. Will the allure of a dangerous game be the demise of their relationship and one of their lives?

JoJo Loves BowBow: A Day in the Life of the World’s Cutest Canine


JoJo Siwa - 2018
    This photographic, full-color gift book will feature never-before-seen shots of BowBow and JoJo, giving fans an exclusive insiders’ peek into the dazzling duo’s daily lives. A perfect gift item, JoJo Loves BowBow will charm Siwanatorz and followers of Instagram-famous pups alike.

The Deepest Dark


Joan Hall Hovey - 2014
    She contemplates suicide as a way to be with them, and to end her unrelenting pain. In a last desperate effort to find peace, she drives to Loon Lake where they last vacationed together, wanting to believe they will be waiting for her there. At least in spirit. Barring that, the pills Doctor Gregory gave her to help her sleep, are in her purse. The cabin at Loon Lake was her and Corey’s secret hideaway, and not even Abby’s sister, Karen, to whom she is close, knows where it is. But someone else does. He is one of three men who have escaped from Pennington prison. They are dangerous predators who will stop at nothing to get what they want - and to keep from going back to prison. Having already committed the worst of crimes, they have nothing to lose. Unknowingly, Abby is on a collision course with evil itself. And the decision of whether to live or die will soon be wrenched from her hands.

The Juliet Stories


Carrie Snyder - 2012
    It is 1984, the height of Nicaragua's post-revolutionary war, and the peace-activist Friesens have come to protest American involvement. In the midst of this tumult, Juliet's family lives outside of the boundaries of ordinary life. They've escaped, and the ordinary rules don't apply. Threat is pervasive, danger is real, but the extremity of the situation also produces a kind of euphoria, protecting Juliet's family from its own cracks and conflicts.When Juliet's younger brother becomes sick with cancer, their adventure ends abruptly. The Friesens return to Canada only to find that their lives beyond Nicaragua have become the war zone. One by one, they drift from each other, and Juliet grows to adulthood, pulled between her desire to live a free life like the one she remembers in Nicaragua, and her desire to build for her own children a life more settled than her parents could provide.With laser-sharp prose and breathtaking insight, these stories herald Carrie Snyder as one of Canada's most prodigiously talented writers.

The Danger Tree: Memory, War, And The Search For A Family's Past


David MacFarlane - 1991
    He brings to life a multi-generational cast of characters who are as colourful as only Newfoundlanders can be. With humour, insight, and genuine love for those heroes and charlatans, pirates and dreamers, he explores the meaning of family and the consequences of forgotten history.

The Petty Details of So-and-so's Life


Camilla Gibb - 2002
    Emma sets off in pursuit of a new family, and discovers a sense of belonging in the most unexpected places. Burly, tattoo-stamped Blue, haunted by the brutal, disparaging voice of their father, embarks on a cross-country search for the elusive parent. Emma and Blue share a most intimate connection, one forged in the secret worlds and wordless communications of childhood. As they grow, they discover the limits of the language they share.Camilla Gibb’s debut novel, Mouthing the Words, won the 2000 City of Toronto Book Award, and has been published in twelve countries. Camilla is one of two Canadian authors named to the Orange Futures List, compiled by the Orange Prize jury to celebrate twenty-one promising writers to watch in the new century.

New Girl in Little Cove


Damhnait Monaghan - 2021
    They want someone who can uphold their Catholic values and keep a motley group of largely unwilling students in line. The position is filled by mainlander Rachel O’Brien—technically a Catholic (baptized!), technically a teacher (honors degree!)—who’s desperate to leave her current mess of a life behind. She isn’t surprised that her students don’t see the value of learning French. But she is surprised that she can barely understand their English… Is it a compliment or insult to be called a sleeveen? (Insult.) And the anonymous notes left on her car, telling her to go home, certainly don’t help to make her feel welcome. Still, she is quickly drawn into the island’s traditional music and culture, and into the personal lives of her crusty but softhearted landlady, Lucille, her reluctant students and her fellow teacher Doug Bishop. But when her beliefs clash with church and community, she makes a decision that throws her career into jeopardy. In trying to help a student, has she gone too far?

The Russländer


Sandra Birdsell - 2001
    Here they lived in a world bounded by the prosperity of their landlords and by the poverty and disgruntlement of the Russian workers who toil on the estate. But in the wake of the First World War, the tensions engulfing the country begin to intrude on the community, leading to an unspeakable act of violence. In the aftermath of that violence, and in the difficult years that follow, Katya tries to come to terms with the terrible events that befell her and her family. In lucid, spellbinding prose, Birdsell vividly evokes time and place, and the unease that existed in a country on the brink of revolutionary change. The Russländer is a powerful and moving story of ordinary people who lived through extraordinary times.

Exiles from the War: The War Guest Diary of Charlotte Mary Twiss


Jean Little - 2010
    Though the war is being waged across the Atlantic, Charlotte begins to feel its danger, as her brother George defies their parents and enlists in the Navy. After months of receiving letters from overseas, suddenly there is no word from him — has the unthinkable happened and George's ship been sunk by a German submarine?Charlotte Twiss’s diary shows her innermost feelings about her life on the Canadian homefront, as she helps her war guests "settle in" and wonders whether her brother is safe from harm.

We, Jane


Aimee Wall - 2021
    It's back home, and it goes by the name of Jane.

Marthe travels back to a small town on the island with the older woman to continue the work of an underground movement in 60s Chicago: abortion services performed by women, always referred to as Jane. She commits to learning how to continue this legacy and protect such essential knowledge. But the nobility of her task and the reality of small-town, rural life compete, and personal fractures in the small movement become clear.

We, Jane probes the importance of care work by women for women. It underscores the complexity of relationships in close circles, and beautifully captures the inevitable heartache of understanding home. From a celebrated translator of cutting-edge fiction, this is Red Clocks meets Women Talking; a quiet, compelling novel about the magnitude of women's friendships and connection—individually and across eras.